Murray will decide over management

The choice of management company to handle the Scot through a momentous period is likely to be confirmed before he starts his first full year on the ATP Tour in Australia next month. As one of the genuine likely lads of world tennis, Murray is in an exceedingly powerful position and those vying for the opportunity to represent him are intoxicated by such promise.

Octagon, with whom he signed as a promising junior, is in the box seat to retain him, but the company is increasingly nervous that Murray is being wooed by rival firms. It is understood that representatives from International Management Group (IMG), founded by Mark McCormack and regarded as the most prestigious of management companies, has had a meeting with the Murray family.

It is the difference in Murray, his marketability, his personality and his enormous potential to which companies are desperate to be attached. The competition is compelling, not least in that Octagon, which represented Steffi Graf, Michael Chang and Lleyton Hewitt, grand-slam title-winners all, are regarded as the little brother to IMG and SFX, the former having Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and the latter having Andy Roddick on their client lists.